I’ve got a new WordPress website. Now what?

Once you’ve had a chance to take a step back and look at what you’ve got, then what?

How do you keep your website safe from hackers?
How can you use it as a marketing tool?
How do I update the menu or create new pages? 

These are biggest questions our clients have once they’ve had the chance to marinate on their website going live. So we’ve compiled a few short lists of related considerations so you can make the most out of your WordPress website right from the get go.

Security

• Install a security plugin. But do your research. We recommend iThemes Security.
• Update all your plugins and the WordPress core as available. This is the best way to protect yourself long-term.
• Occasionally back up your website. Because you can never be too prepared.

Marketing

• See what people are doing on your website and where they are coming from. A simple Google Analytics installation makes this possible.
• Gather contacts or opt-ins. This can be done with Gravity Forms and Mail Chimp integrations for a seamless user experience.
• Gate your content or downloads. Gather contacts who are truly interested in what you’ve got in exchange for their contact information so you can nurture leads into customers.
• Share your content the right way. You’d be surprised at how many people have trouble sharing their content. Something that will help is making sure you utilize the “featured image” in you blog posts. This is the photo that will show up when the link to your post is shared. Then it’s just a matter of copy and pasting the post link into the platforms that you want to share on. Our favorite tool for sharing content is Buffer so you don’t have to be tied to your computer 24-7.
• Categorize your blog posts for perusers. Make it easy for visitors to stick around and check you out with organized blog posts so they can easily find what they are interested in.
• Double dip with video. Use Facebook, Vimeo or YouTube to upload your video and let your website access it from there, saving you from a slow loading page. This not only gets your video out to more viewers, but helps your website run faster and ensures compatibility with whatever browser the visitor is using like Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer.

Change ups

• Update the navigation menu. Just do this in the menu section. No need to update the page names individually.
• Add new pages. WordPress makes this easy, but make sure to update the menu if you want it to show up in the navigation.
• Create landing pages. All you have to do here is add a page, update the link address and Shazam! You’ve got a landing page for your promo.
• Create event pages. Speaking of events, there are tons of cool event plugins to check out that will simplify your life. Make sure to read the reviews to find the most tried and true for what you’re looking to acheive.
• Sell stuff. Adding a shop can be a bit more tedious, but if you’re up for the challenge there are great plugins for that too!

Have anything to add to this post? Tell us in the comments.